Cook-off at BC-U in Daytona Beach a spicy affair

Published: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 2:40 p.m.

Ana Randolph showed up at the University of Central Florida Business Incubator in Daytona Beach last year with what site manager Connie Bernal came to recognize as “a bag full of memories.”

It contained a seasoning blend, the recipe for which was confided to Randolph by her father, Abraham Rosa, before she left Puerto Rico decades ago. The DeLand resident approached the incubator, housed at Daytona Beach International Airport, for help to start a business. The rub was a secret ingredient in the 34-year success of a cafeteria and catering house her father founded on the island in 1956. Randolph wanted to package and market the seasoning — much as Rosa had done from his homeland from 1981 until he perished in a boating accident in 1990.

“She said, ‘Connie, I want to make this happen because I promised him he would be alive again,’” Bernal recalled at the podium last week, during the public launch of Abraham Rosa Seasonings.

The event took place Thursday at Bethune-Cookman University, in a conference room of the business building. As Bernal and others spoke, a live video feed played on a screen behind them. It showed the action taking place in the adjacent teaching kitchen for the university’s hospitality management program — the final minutes of daylong cook-off by students who developed recipes using the seasoning blend. Eleven students participated in the contest, six of them cooking seafood dishes in the morning and five of them finishing up their chicken dishes as the ceremony got underway.

Breanna McCloud, a freshman from Tampa still in her kitchen uniform from the morning session, snapped into full hospitality mode when she noticed the crowd in the room was overtaking the number of seats. She and another student pulled more chairs from a closet and quickly yet expertly slipcovered them in shiny gold fabric. She was there to hear whether the Peach-glazed Salmon she created was a winner.

It turns out she took first place and a $500 prize in the seafood category. Second place for seafood, $300, went to Olivia Pringle for an Under the Sea Gumbo and third, $150 went to Keyana Evans for a tilapia dish called Pina Colada Under the Sea. First, second and third for chicken, respectively, with the same payouts as the seafood division, went to: Antonio Clark for Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta; Jaron Williams for a recipe for chicken breasts, On a Nice Autumn Day; and Chinatsu Kajiwara for Chicken Thigh Herb Grill. The students’ recipes will be posted on abrahamrosaseasonings.com.

Randolph said she engaged the university in the launch because her father valued education. Though he, born in 1921, only made it through second grade before having to go to work, he made sure all five of his children went to college.

“I know he is smiling,” she said.

News-Journal Food Editor Denise O’Toole Kelly can be reached at 386-681-2214 or denise.kelly@news-jrnl.com.

<p>Ana Randolph showed up at the University of Central Florida Business Incubator in Daytona Beach last year with what site manager Connie Bernal came to recognize as “a bag full of memories.”</p><p>It contained a seasoning blend, the recipe for which was confided to Randolph by her father, Abraham Rosa, before she left Puerto Rico decades ago. The DeLand resident approached the incubator, housed at Daytona Beach International Airport, for help to start a business. The rub was a secret ingredient in the 34-year success of a cafeteria and catering house her father founded on the island in 1956. Randolph wanted to package and market the seasoning — much as Rosa had done from his homeland from 1981 until he perished in a boating accident in 1990.</p><p>“She said, 'Connie, I want to make this happen because I promised him he would be alive again,'” Bernal recalled at the podium last week, during the public launch of Abraham Rosa Seasonings.</p><p>The event took place Thursday at Bethune-Cookman University, in a conference room of the business building. As Bernal and others spoke, a live video feed played on a screen behind them. It showed the action taking place in the adjacent teaching kitchen for the university's hospitality management program — the final minutes of daylong cook-off by students who developed recipes using the seasoning blend. Eleven students participated in the contest, six of them cooking seafood dishes in the morning and five of them finishing up their chicken dishes as the ceremony got underway.</p><p>Breanna McCloud, a freshman from Tampa still in her kitchen uniform from the morning session, snapped into full hospitality mode when she noticed the crowd in the room was overtaking the number of seats. She and another student pulled more chairs from a closet and quickly yet expertly slipcovered them in shiny gold fabric. She was there to hear whether the Peach-glazed Salmon she created was a winner.</p><p>It turns out she took first place and a $500 prize in the seafood category. Second place for seafood, $300, went to Olivia Pringle for an Under the Sea Gumbo and third, $150 went to Keyana Evans for a tilapia dish called Pina Colada Under the Sea. First, second and third for chicken, respectively, with the same payouts as the seafood division, went to: Antonio Clark for Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta; Jaron Williams for a recipe for chicken breasts, On a Nice Autumn Day; and Chinatsu Kajiwara for Chicken Thigh Herb Grill. The students' recipes will be posted on abrahamrosaseasonings.com.</p><p>Randolph said she engaged the university in the launch because her father valued education. Though he, born in 1921, only made it through second grade before having to go to work, he made sure all five of his children went to college.</p><p>“I know he is smiling,” she said.</p><p> News-Journal Food Editor Denise O'Toole Kelly can be reached at 386-681-2214 or denise.kelly@news-jrnl.com.</p>